The Devastation of Germ War-fare

Pre-Sickness: 2 hours before the mayhem started

One of the sad effects of this nasty virus Lawyer and I both got was that my already-on-the-verge-of-super-skinny son was pushed over the boundaries to just down-right sickly-skinny. In one week's time my child went from having a slight roundness to his cheeks to looking almost gaunt. His knees are wider than his thighs now. I'm really sad about this.

Pre-Sickness: 2 hours before the mayhem started

Luckily, Lawyer finally has an appetite and he has not let the thought of potentially puking up his guts get in his way of food today. I, on the other hand, still haven't managed to eat much more than two scoops of mashed potatoes, 5 bites of rice and a popsicle since Tuesday and I think I gained the weight that Lawyer lost. Haha...doesn't that just beat it all!

Post-Sickness

Anyhow, I'm hoping for a continued recovery this weekend and that we will be back to normal by next week. And I'm hoping Lawyer's thighs will become thicker than his knees.

And thank you to all that have been praying for his speedy recovery...it was a scary first part of the week to endure.

iheart iphone

Hahaha! I'm so unique with my title. Sometimes, you got to use what you have and all I had was my iPhone to capture the most amazing sky...take that Hawaiian sunsets!

As a side note...I did NOT use Photoshop.

Not for the squeamish...

Proceed with caution to the following picture. Please remember you have been fore-warned. If you do not like needles or blood, do NOT view the picture below.

Okay well, I guess I have given enough warning. Lawyer and I have been VERY sick. So sick that both of us required IV fluids earlier in the week. I have seen more than my fair share of throw-up the past 5 days (yes, 5 days of puke...it's getting a little old by now) and our bed sheets have never seen so many washings.

The doctor was very worried that Lawyer had appendicitis and we even took him to get an ultra-sound on his stomach and also see the surgeon. Within two days, I was heaving in a trash can so I pretty much discounted the appendicitis thing. But I have to tell you, this bug is the nastiest I have ever experienced. I would NEVER EVER wish this on my worst enemy. I basically slept from 4:00 pm on Tuesday until about 3:00 pm today, with various breaks to realize that I still had a sick child to tend to.

Anyhow, here is poor Lawyer getting his IV. He was not fond of it but I think for a 4 year old, he did pretty darn well. Now if we could kick this darn virus out the front door...

Guacamole Salad

This has to be, hands down, my favorite dish to eat. The colors are so vibrant, the flavors are bright and it takes no time to throw together.

The Ingredients:

Grape Tomatoes


Yellow Bell Pepper


Can of Black Beans


Red Onion


Jalepeno


Limes


Garlic
(If I were cool, I would have taken a picture of the garlic and posted it but I'm not)

Olive Oil


Cayenne Pepper


Salt - Repeat after me...KOSHER Salt


Fresh Ground Pepper


Avocados



Directions (so easy a caveman can do it!):
In a medium-sized bowl (white looks best with this dish!), add the following:

Tomatoes,


Yellow Bell Pepper


Black Beans


Red Onion


Jalapeno


Lime Zest


Lime Juice


Olive Ol (at first "Ol" was a type-o but then I figured, what the hell, if you're from the South, chances are you so "Ol" anyway and considering I'm from the South...)


Salt


Pepper


Garlic


Cayenne Pepper


Avocados


Okay, now gently stir it to combine and you are ready to eat the best darn thing you've ever had before!



Recipe for Ina Garten's Guacamole Salad
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 yellow bell pepper, diced in 1/2 inch pieces
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup red onion, small-diced
1 jalapeno, ribs and seeds removed and then minced
Zest of 1 lime, about 1/2 teaspoon
Juice of 2 limes, about 1/4 cup
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 avocados, skin and pits removed, chopped

Combine all above ingredients in a medium-sized bowl.

Serves about 6 as a side dish or about 10 as a dip with chips!

They Say It's Your Birthday...

Guess What?

Today...

is my...

blog's FIRST birthday!

Check out this post to see where it all started!

Oh and if you notice, my pictures are now much more crisp and clean! I decided to move on from uploading photos through Blogger and instead grab the HTML code from my Flickr site...it's such a HUGE difference in quality! Oh and if you really want to experience the photos at the highest quality, you can click on each picture or you can visit my Flickr to see all my photos I've uploaded so far!

I think this was a great birthday present to my blog...shiny, new, top-quality looking photos!

Also, I just re-posted all my food photography photos in my last post so now they should look WAY better than the icky way they were looking!

Have a Groovy Day!

Food Photography

For some reason, I really find it satisfying to take pictures of food. It's probably because I can tell them what to do and they don't talk back, make funny faces or put hands up to cover their faces.

Anyhow, I really like thinking about how to set up the pictures. I think about my lighting (the BEST lighting in my house is about 1:00pm right now right next to a window on the floor), what is going to fill my viewfinder, what produce would take the best picture, etc. I think the best thing about the pictures is that little to no editing had to be done to them. I love it when that happens.

Anyhow, I hope you find these as pleasing as I do! Enjoy!

And apparently I like taking pictures of eggs.

Yellow Week Review

That was fun...I think the best thing about doing this whole Yellow Week thing was that it forced me to look at my surroundings. Although I'm pretty sure the people in front of me and behind me at the red light when I took the picture for the yellow street lines thought I was weird.

Valentine's Cards, Simplified

Boy, was I ever ambitious to create the little alligators for Lawyer's Valentine's cards this year. I only thought there were about 10 or so kids in his class and come to find out, I needed to send 18 cards - one dadgum alligator took me more than an hour to cut out and construct!! Lawyer was home sick for more than a week which meant a whole lot of nothing got done, cards included.


I opted to go with a more "homemade" approach and I just cut out hearts from scrap fabrics I had and sewed them directly on the card stock. I was able to cut, sew, write, stuff and seal all 18 cards in about 30 minutes.

I don't know if they were appropriate for a boy but Lawyer seemed to like them okay. But then again, I put candy in the cards so the card could have been cow poop and he would have liked it as long as I included candy. Poor candy-deprived child.

Yellow - Day 5

This Explains A Lot...

At least I can say with confidence that it runs in the family.

Thanks Nano for the self-portrait you left on my camera...you ought to know by now that if it's on my camera, it's fair game for the blog.